POST-OFFICE. Correspondence is the offspring of advanced civilization. When the state of society in this count7 anterior to the seventeenth century is considered, there can be little surprise that we hear nothing of a post-office be fore that period. The business of the state only demanded correspondence. The king summoned his barons from all quarters of the kingdom by letters or writs, and held frequent communication with his sheriffs, to collect his parliament together, to muster his forces, to preserve his peace, to fill his treasury. The ex penses of the establishment of Nuncii, charged with the conveyance of letters, formed a large item in the charges of the royal household. As early as the reign of King John, the payments of Nuncii for the carriage of letters may be found enrolled on the Close and Misto Rolls, and these payments may be traced in an almost unbroken series through the records of subsequent reigns. Nuncii also formed part of the establishment of the more powerful nobles. The Nuncius of the time of King John was probably obliged to provide his own horse through out his journey ; whilst in the reign of Edward II. he was able, and found it more suitable, to hire horses at fixed posts or stations. In 1481, Edward IV., during the Scottish war, is stated by Gale to have established at certain posts, twenty miles apart, a change of riders, who handed letters to one another, and by this means expedited them two hundred miles in two days. The Persians had a similar means of communication, which is de scribed by Herodotus 98). It would seem that in England the posts, at which relays of riders and horses were kept, were wholly private enterprises; but that when their importance became felt and appreciated, the state found it both po litic and a source of profit to subject them to its surveillance. A statute in 1548 (2 & 3 Edw. VI. c. 3) fixed a penny a mile as the rate to be chargeable for the hire of post-horses.
In 1581 one Thomas Randolph is mentioned by Camden as the chief post master of England ; and there are rea sons for concluding that his duties were to superintend the posts, and had no im mediate connection with letters. The earliest recital of the duties and pri vileges of a postmaster seems to have been made by James I. The letters patent of Charles I. in 1632 (Pat., 8 Car.
p. i. m, 15 d; Fcedera, vol. 19,p. 385) recite that James constituted an office called the office of postmaster of Eng land for foreign parts being out of his dominions.
In 1635 a proclamation was made "for settling of the letter-office of England and Scotland." It sets forth "that there hath been no certain or constant intercourse between the kingdoms of England and Scotland ;" and commands "Thomas Witherings, Esq., his Majesty's post master of England for foreign parts, to settle a running post or two, to run night and day between Edinburgh and Scotland and the City of London, to go thither and come back in six days." Directions are given for the manage ment of the correspondence between post-towns on the line of road and other towns which are named, and likewise in Ireland. All postmasters are com manded "to have ready in their stables slue or two horses :" twopence-halfpenny for a single horse and fivepenee for two horses per mile were the charges settled for this service. A monopoly was esta blished, with exceptions in favour of common known carriers and particular messengers sent on purpose. In 1640 a proclamation was made concerning the sequestration of the office of postmaster for foreign parts, and also of the letter office of England, into the hands of Philip Burlamachy of London, merchant ; but in 1C42 it was resolved by a committee of the House of Commons that such sequestration was " a grievance and ille gal, and ought to be taken off," and that Mr. Witherings ought to be restored.
As late as 1644 it appears that the post master's duties were not connected di rectly with letters. A parliamentary re solution entered on the Journals of the Commons states " that the Lords and Commons, finding by experience that it is most necessary, for keeping of good in telligence between the parliament and their forces, that post stages should be erected in several parts of the kingdom, and the office of master of the is and couriers being at present void, ordain that Edmund Prideaux, Esq., a member of the House of Commons, shall be, and is hereby constituted, master of the posts, messengers and couriers." "He first esta blished a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation, thereby saving to the public the charge of maintaining postmasters to the amount of 70001. per annum." (Blackstone.) An attempt of the Common Council of London to set up a separate post-office, in 1649, was checked by a resolution of the House of Commons, which declared " that the office of postmaster is, and ought to be, in the sole power and disposal of parlia ment." But the most complete step in the estab lishment of a Post-office was taken in 1656, when an act was passed "to settle the postage of England, Scotland, and Ireland." This having been the model of all subsequent measures, induces us to give something more than a passing no tice of it. The preamble sets forth "that the erecting of one General Post-office for the speedy conveying and recarrying of letters by post to and from all places within England, Scotland, and Ireland, and into several parts beyond the seas, hath been and is the best means not only to maintain a certain and constant inter course of trade and commerce between all the said places, to the great benefit of the people of these nations, but also to convey the publique despatches, and to discover and prevent many dangerous and wicked designs which have been and are daily contrived against the peace and welfare of this commonwealth, the intelligence whereof cannot well be communicated but by letter of escript." It also enacted that " there shall be one Generall Post office, and one officer stiled the postmaster general' of England and comptroller of the Post-office." This officer was to have the horsing of all "through" posts and persons" riding in post." Prices for letters, both English, Scotch, Irish. and foreign, and for post-horses, were fixed. All other persons were forbidden to "set up or hn ploy any foot-posts, horse-posts, or pac quet-boats." These arrangements were confirmed in the first year of the Resto ration by an Act which was repealed 9 Anne, C. 11. In 1683, a metropolitan penny-post was set up, the history of which is given at length in the 'Ninth Report of the Commissioners of Post office Inquiry.' From 1711 to 1838, upwards of 150 acts affecting the regula tions of the Post-office were passed. In the first year of Her present Majesty ninety-nine of these were repealed, either wholly or partially, and four Acts were passed (caps. 33, 34, 65, 36), by which the whole department of the Post-office was regulated. Their enactments has e been abrogated, to a great extent, by the adoption of Mr. Rowland Hill's plan of uniform postage, which we shall pre sently notice. This measure was carried into effect by an Act passed in 1839, 2 and 3 Vic., e. 52, which conferred temporary powers on the Lords of the Treasury to do so, and was subsequently confirmed by an Act 3 & 4 Vic., C. 96, passed 10th August, 1840.